Corry pays tribute to retiring Ellis

Harry Ellis repesented the British & Irish Lions last summer against South Africa

Former England captain Martin Corry paid tribute to ex-club and country teammate Harry Ellis who retired last week due to a persistent knee injury.

Few players had a better understanding of scrum-half Ellis' game than Corry who started at No.8 when the 28-year-old made both his Leicester and England debuts.

And despite always being remembered as a boisterous firebrand on the pitch, Corry revealed it was a very different character who first entered the Tigers dressing room as a 19-year-old before his first-team bow against Newcastle.

"When he first started at Leicester he used to come in with his iPod listening to terrible music like Justin Timberlake while me and all the forwards are trying to psyche themselves up," Corry told the Rugby Paper.

"Harry was a really quiet character at first but on the field he is a completely different character.

"He came out straight away and started laying into all the forwards.

"As a player I had the utmost respect because he started as such a young player coming into an intimidating atmosphere.

"It was an honour to see him develop as an up-and-coming player into an England international.

"I even went into his school to present his A-Levels to him so it was strange that I was there when made his Twickenham debut.

"He was full of energy and as a back-rower he is exactly the sort of scrum-half you want to play alongside.

"He was confrontational, tried makes runs around the breakdown and was a true 100per cent player whether that is throwing himself at chargedowns or making last-gasp tackles."

Ellis was firmly established as England's first choice No.9 starting all the Six Nations matches between 2004 and 2007 until injury struck in a play-off semi-final against Bristol when he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament.

Despite undergoing knee reconstruction, Ellis never fully recovered from that injury although he did play for the British & Irish Lions last summer.